


And the feeling coming from my bones says find a home

by annieoakley1



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-23
Updated: 2014-03-23
Packaged: 2018-01-16 17:48:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1356391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annieoakley1/pseuds/annieoakley1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two years after the rise of the dead, survivors Katniss and Peeta try to build some semblance of a life together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And the feeling coming from my bones says find a home

When one of those…things bit Prim, Katniss knew the world was ending for sure. Or at least hers was, because she had seen it happen to at least a dozen different people, and not one of them lasted longer than a week after.

Prim held on for six days, and was in such bad shape toward the end that a part of Katniss was relieved to see her take that final breath. When her sister’s eyes opened again a second later, they weren’t the shade of blue that Katniss had known and loved. They were the color of ice, and just as cold.

She raised her crossbow and aimed. That was the easy part, because that wasn’t Prim. The hard part was after. Burying her. Leaving her. Trying to survive without her.

~*~

She met Peeta six months later. He looked no older than 19, and he was so damn loud that every corpse in the county was on his tail. She was perched safe in a tree, her weapon raised, poised to take the first shot at the one closest to closing in on him. Then he unsheathed his machete, and she watched enraptured as he took each one down all on his own.

So the kid wasn’t helpless after all.

“It’d be best if we stuck together,” he told her moments later, after she sauntered toward him to reveal herself. He was still panting from the exertion, rivulets of sweat rolling down his temples and darkening his ash blond hair.

“It’s not safe here,” he continued. She waited near the pile of rotting bodies as he caught his breath, and then she heard it. The groaning and shuffling as more made their way toward them.

The boy heard it a few seconds later, and he darted in front of her protectively. But she hid her proud smile as she stepped around him and raised her bow.

Katniss always got them right in the eye with the first shot, and after three of those things fell to the ground, really dead this time, it was the boy who seemed awed.

“My name’s Peeta,” he said, walking with her as she went to retrieve her arrows. “I think we could help each other out.”

“Katniss,” she told him, not bothering to stop or look at him. “Maybe we can.”

~*~

In the nearly two years since the outbreak that changed everything, Katniss only trusted family, and when her family was gone, she resigned herself to a life of solitude. There was no plan for Peeta, no room for him or anyone else in her bungalow or her heart.

She didn’t know why she agreed to stay together. It was just like her inability to take her own life, even when she had nothing left to live for. The instinct to survive was an annoying one.

“What was your life like?” he asked one night. “Before.”

They hadn’t really talked much in the past few weeks. Peeta was pretty perceptive and seemed to know it was a lost cause to even try to initiate such a conversation. But in that moment, in the darkness of her room, and with the deafening noise from those things as they scratched around outside, he asked just to save his sanity.

She answered for the same reason. “I was a librarian.” She ignored his obvious surprise. “I liked the quiet.”

His smile fell with the next question. “Any family?”

“Just my parents and younger sister,” she said. “You?”

“Two older brothers. And my parents, of course. They owned a bakery in AnsleyPark.”

Katniss tried to picture it, and it appeared in her mind as a red brick building right in the heart of the most picturesque part of the city. She grew up only 10 minutes away from there but it seemed like an entirely different world.

She wanted to know what happened, but she couldn’t take it if he tried to return the question. He slid further underneath his sleeping bag as she imagined the worst scenarios imaginable, the ones that looked exactly like the moments she survived herself.

“I think we should keep moving, Katniss,” he finally said, long after she assumed he was asleep. “It’s not safe here.”

“It’s not safe anywhere.”

He released a frustrated sigh. “I know, but we can find better shelter. Somewhere with more room, too.”

A part of her wanted to argue against it, because she worked hard to secure this area and she was proud of that, but she knew he was right. If they were going to stay together, they would need more space.

He might not live to see next week, she thought, and she hated it immediately.

You might not live to see next week, she amended, to soften the blow.

Peeta was sleeping now, and she moved closer to check on him and ease her mind. He looked so peaceful while he slept. So young and healthy and beautiful.

She wasn’t going to lose him. She’d lost enough already.

~*~

Half a year passed as they traveled across the states. When they reached what was once known as North Carolina but was now an interactive graveyard, they were greeted by a spray-painted invitation over the former Welcome to… sign.

Survivors-

Find us in Asheville. We have food, weapons, and safety in numbers.

“Do you want to go?” Peeta asked her, and she shook her head.

“Maybe it’s a trap.”

“Maybe it’s not,” he countered.

She adjusted the backpack strap against her shoulder, pointedly ignoring his stare. How or why he continued to keep this hope alive perplexed her. They knew from firsthand experience, together and apart, that the living could now be just as dangerous as the dead.

It happened when they settled somewhere around Clemson a few weeks after Katniss quietly turned 29. They were at the farmhouse for only a few days when the roar of motorcycle engines woke them in the middle of the night.

“Go up to the attic,” Peeta told her as he burst into her room.

“I’m not going anywhere without you.”

“Just let me talk to them,” he pleaded. “See what they’re like, and if it’s okay, I’ll come and get you.”

“And if it’s not okay?”

He was quiet, and she stared him down in her aggravation. “What have I told you, Peeta? I can take care of myself.”

She was about to argue further when the bikes pulled into the driveway. They both listened intently for the knock on the door, or the jiggle of the knob, but what came was a deafening bang. Their eyes met in the dimly lit room before they each scrambled for their weapons, and then the men were inside the home, laughing boisterously as one shouted instructions.

Katniss knew if they saw her, that would be it, and as much as Peeta hated it, he knew it in that moment, too. There was nowhere for them to hide now that the men were here.

Katniss was quiet as a mouse and as deadly as a viper, and she cut off his protests with a hard look before taking the lead. They waited until the group dispersed, and when she found one of them alone in the kitchen, she raised her bow. The body fell to the floor with a sickening thud that caught the others’ attention, and then it was an all-out brawl.

It might have been four against two, but the odds meant nothing to either of them. She tried to get a shot in on the last one as he fought with Peeta, but she couldn’t guarantee she wouldn’t hit Peeta as they battled. It wasn’t worth the risk to her.

Finally, the man lost the upper-hand, and Peeta locked his hands around his throat, gritting his teeth as he squeezed the life from him. When he released him, Katniss stepped in to finish the job, killing him for the second and last time.

“I don’t want to stay here anymore,” Peeta confessed as he stared down at the man he just killed. Katniss’s heart ached when she realized that this was probably the first time Peeta had to do this, take a life that was actually living.

“Then we’ll go tonight.”

~*~

Peeta loved this part of the country, and she had to admit that she did, too. The sight of lush green trees and sprawling, flower-speckled fields rejuvenated both of them. They’d been surrounded by death for too long.

The smell was unusual here, too. It reminded Katniss of her childhood camping trips in the mountains. Fresh air, clean and crisp, not that sickeningly sweet, putrid odor of decay they were accustomed to now.

“Something’s different,” Peeta whispered one night, and she turned to face him.

“I know.”

“Do you think it might be over soon?”

She considered it for a moment, but it was best to not get her hopes up. “I’m not sure. There’s still so many of them. I don’t know if it’ll ever be over.”

He moved closer to her in the darkness, and she sighed in relief as her head found the crook of his neck. She didn’t know exactly how long they’d been sharing a bed now. It started somewhere back in South Carolina, not too long after that night at the farmhouse. She woke with nightmares and he was there to comfort her, and he’d been there ever since.

Sometimes she thought the need to touch him would kill her. How many times had she fantasized about it? Wondered what he would do if she reached up to kiss the corner of his mouth, just so she would finally know.

“We could still go to Asheville,” he said, bursting her thought bubble. She was about to protest again when he added, “But I really like it here.”

“So do I,” she admitted with relief.

“Maybe we can look for something a little more permanent then.”

They’d been spending weeks or months in the abandoned homes they deemed safe enough for the time being, but then they moved on to the next one, neither sure what exactly they were in search of, only hoping they’d know it when they found it. The idea of settling somewhere and investing a significant amount of their energy into securing it for the long-term filled her with a sense of happiness that took her by surprise.

It was dangerous, that happiness. If she allowed it, she’d become hooked on it, dependent on it. And then what would she do if she lost it again?

“Tell me a story,” she asked to distract herself. “A nice one.”

He thought about it for a long time, and she wondered if he already ran out of the nice ones.

“Did I tell you about the time I took second place in my school’s wrestling competition? I was only a freshman so it was kind of a big deal.” He was usually so humble, so she loved to hear things like this.

“No. Tell me.”

“I actually lost to Rye,” he began with a laugh, and she smiled against his skin.

As he talked and she listened, she felt his fingers threading through her hair, then settling at the back of her neck and gently massaging her there. It felt so impossibly good that she forced herself to stay awake just so she wouldn’t miss a moment of it.

The next day, they crossed the RockinghamCounty line. They walked for hours, only coming across a few of the dead as they trekked to the more secluded and extravagant area.

They stopped at the end of the dirt path and looked up together, each curious to what was ahead, hidden in the canopy of trees that surrounded them. Peeta led the way, his machete in his hand, ready for anything. But it was only the sound of chirping birds and a rippling stream that greeted them.

About a mile in, they hit the edge of the concrete drive. He looked over at her as she fought the giddy excitement she felt at the prospect.

It felt like they walked paved driveway for years before they came to the black iron gate between two stone pillars. It would have felt impossible to pass if it wasn’t already open.

“Well this is disconcerting,” Peeta said, and Katniss softly laughed. It was. Nothing should be this easy.

“If it’s too good to be true, then it probably is.”

“Let’s check it out,” he said, walking ahead. “I have a feeling about this place.”

She wanted to argue against it, but she followed him anyway, mocking his intuition along the way. He took her ribbing with a good-natured smile as they passed the empty horse stables and bone-dry pond.

“Prim would have loved it here,” Katniss sighed. Her sister always dreamed of owning land like this, a sprawling estate that would accommodate every stray animal she could find.

His large hand rubbed her back as she fought the image of her sister and Lady, the puppy her father brought home when they were children.

“Hey,” he whispered gently, pulling her to him. “Stay with me.”

“I am,” she promised. “I’m here.”

The main house was a stone and slate architectural wonder, and a chill ran through her when she wondered what sinister things could be hiding inside something so large and beautiful.

She marched ahead with determination, trying the first of several oversized doors. Peeta was at her side instantly, ready for anything that lay in wait as she twisted the knob.

It opened easily with a soft squeak, and they stepped inside cautiously. The sunlight streamed through the numerous windows, brightening the vast space, and Katniss’s breath caught in awe. It was all vaulted ceilings and wooden beams, arches and wainscoting, a fireplace that covered an entire wall. The furniture all looked showroom new, even after several years of hell on earth. Katniss never saw such opulence outside of her television screen.

“Quaint,” Peeta said as he explored the main room. “Cozy. A nice starter home.”

He moved down the hallway without her, and she was about to call out in warning when the large portrait over the mantle caught her eye. The man had the eyes of a snake, and a snow white beard that obscured most of his face. A shiver ran down her spine, and a moment later she heard a commotion in another room. She raced to Peeta, her heart thrumming painfully against her chest as she braced for the worst.

The man’s eyes, snake-like in the painting, were crazed when they met hers. Peeta must have been caught totally off guard, because he was pinned beneath him now, struggling against the frail looking old man who had the strength of twenty in his insanity. He growled unintelligible words as he tried to wrap his hands around Peeta’s neck, and Katniss pulled the buck knife from the holster on her thigh, moving in to strike him down quickly.

The blade stopped as it met his spine, and he cried out as she forced it further. He fell forward, blood trickling from his lips, and Peeta pushed the limp body off of him.

Her hands were shaking as she dropped the knife and reached for an arrow, ready to finish him before he returned.

“Katniss, wait!” Peeta called out, his hand raised as he slowly stood up. “Wait.”

They were both silent as they stood over the old man’s body, watching for any signs that he was coming back- a twitch of the hand, fluttering eyelids, a soft groan as something else took over.

But it was silence, and stillness. The only sound was their beating hearts. The man’s heart was quiet.

“Wait,” Peeta repeated, softly this time. He didn’t take his eyes off the stranger, as if it was willing him to stay down, to stay dead.

“What’s happening?” she wondered aloud. It only took a few seconds for it to happen after the first death. He should have been back by now.

“Maybe it really did stop.”

Hours passed as they sat on the dark marble floor in the kitchen, their backs against the hand-carved cabinets, their attention still on the body. Outside, the night took over, and the room would have been dark if it weren’t for the moonlight.

“Have you ever seen anyone die before?” he asked quietly. “From something that wasn’t a bite, I mean.”

“One of the guys at the farmhouse,” she said. “His eyes opened again before I got a shot in.” She took a deep breath. “And my father.”

She could feel Peeta’s eyes on her now. They had told each other so much about themselves, nearly every story they could remember, but neither ever spoke before about how they lost their families.

“He had a heart attack, I think,” she said, recalling the day it happened, when her father clutched at his chest and fell forward, and she could only watch in terror as she begged him to get up, because she couldn’t do this alone.

“And he…”

“Yeah,” she remembered, choking on the word. “I had to do it. No one else could.”

“My oldest brother,” Peeta admitted a few moments later. “Rye accidentally…he, uh-”

She shifted closer to him, resting her head on his broad shoulder. “It’s okay, Peeta.”

“I had to do it, too,” he confessed.

They both looked back at the still body in the middle of the floor. Her eyes fell shut a few moments later, and when she woke, the room was bright from the sun, and birds were singing just outside an open window.

“I’m going to bury him,” Peeta informed her as he moved across the room. She cried out to him when he lifted the dead body as if it weighed no more than a sack of flour, but it was okay. Nothing happened.

“I’ll be right outside,” he said. “Stay here, okay?”

She agreed, but she was up on her feet as soon as the door closed behind him. She opened more windows, breathing in the fresh air as it flowed through to extinguish the mustiness inside. The sound of the shovel as it struck the earth calmed her frayed nerves, and she stepped away to begin the search inside.

The massive kitchen bled into a large family room, and yet another stone fireplace. She rounded the corner to find herself in a dining room, which was as big as the apartment she had after college.

There was a library, with wood on every surface and dark furniture she could imagine sinking into. There was an office, with computers and file cabinets and, she was sure, more than a few secrets.

A bathroom. And then another bathroom. And then half a bathroom. Closets that weren’t just walk-ins, but live-ins. Downstairs, it was more space, all updated with plush beige carpets and oversized furniture. There were pool tables and video games, and photos of a little girl who probably loved it down there when she visited.

Katniss found her room on the top floor, and she sat on the edge of the twin size bed and studied the pattern on the pink quilt. A stuffed elephant sat perched on the pillow, and she had to look away.

Four more bedrooms, and five more bathrooms. She wasn’t sure which one was her favorite, but it was probably the one with the claw tub in front of the wall of windows. Outside, it was green for as far as she could see, and she felt like a bird inside of a cage.

And her hair, she realized in that moment, felt like a bird’s nest. They bathed nearly every day, but she couldn’t remember the last time she enjoyed a proper one, and took it for pleasure instead of necessity.

She turned the faucet handle and waited, and a stream of clear water sputtered out a few seconds later. It grew warm and then hot as it flowed over her fingers, and she was so grateful in that moment that she didn’t even want to question how it was possible.

It would have to happen later, though, because she knew Peeta was waiting for her downstairs. In the kitchen, they shared a triumphant smile. “There’s still a lot of food here,” he told her, opening one of the cabinets to demonstrate. “I think we’re set for awhile. And I closed the gate.”

She grabbed her crossbow off the large center island. “I’m going to get us some fresh meat.”

“Katniss,” he started.

“I’ll be safe, Peeta,” she promised him.

She returned an hour later with a couple squirrels, and the lights were on inside. The lights!

“Generators,” Peeta stated proudly as he entered the room. “He must have a dozen of them in one part of the basement. And there were more pantries down there, too.” He held up a can. “Look what I found.”

She smiled as she took the lamb stew from him, and she remembered that time, probably more than a year ago, when they first found it in that gourmet grocery store outside of Atlanta. Even cold, it was the best thing she ever ate.

“Told you I had a feeling about this place,” he said.

His smile in that moment stuck something deep inside of her, and she had to step back because she was afraid of what she would do if she stepped closer.

“I’m going to get cleaned up before dinner,” she told him, inching toward the spiral staircase.

When she found her favorite bathroom again, she turned on the hot water and searched for toiletries as it filled. She took a new razor from one of the drawers, vanilla shampoo and Lush soap from the cabinet, and a fluffy bathrobe she found in the linen closet.

She sunk down into the tub with a contented sigh, and she allowed herself the luxury of soaking for what felt like hours. Then she ran the razor over her legs, enjoying the feel of her slippery, smooth skin after.

When she was done in the tub, she moved to the large shower in the corner to wash her hair and clean, and then, unable to resist, she filled the tub halfway again and climbed back in for more pampering.

“Katniss?” Peeta called, and then he knocked softly a few minutes later. “Are you alright?” The door opened an inch, but he stayed firmly on the other side of it.

“Mmmm,” she said, still relishing the feel of the hot water. “Yeah, I’m just taking a bath. I’ll be down in a little while.”

“Okay,” he replied, and the door closed with a gentle thud.

She bit her lip as she imagined him jogging down the stairs now, his worn jeans hanging low on his hips as he moved. The thermal shirt he was wearing today hugged every part of his upper body, and she closed her eyes as she pictured it clinging to him.

Sometimes, when they slept, she traced along his muscles, memorizing the path of her fingertip. He was so strong, but so gentle. So good.

It’d been so long for her. So long. And it never felt like this before. She never wanted anyone this way. Her body ached for him. She was desperate for his touch, desperate to know what it would feel like to be filled by him.

She wanted to run her hands through his soft hair, the way she had when she cut it last week. She wanted to snuggle closer to him and lose herself, the way she had last night as she slept.

She wanted him. She wanted him more than anything. And as her fingers slipped between her legs to relieve some of the tension, she didn’t care about anything else. It didn’t matter that she was nearly a decade older, or that the dead were roaming around them. She didn’t mind that neither knew what tomorrow brought, let alone the day after it, or the day after that.

Her thumb circled her clit as she lifted her hips, and the water sloshed gently over her bare breasts as she rocked against her hand. In that moment, it was Peeta pleasuring her like this. It was his hand, or his mouth, or, preferably, his cock bringing her closer to the edge, and he was looking at her the way he always did, like she meant everything to him, like he would do anything for her. She stifled her moan as she climaxed, and she expected shame to follow but it was surprisingly absent this time.

While drying her now smooth and soft skin, she tried to ignore the part of her crying out for more. She wasn’t satisfied this time, not even close to it.

Her change of clothes was in her bag downstairs, and she was on her way to retrieve it when she heard the soft grunt of pleasure from a nearby room. Curious, and still aroused, she tightened the robe’s sash around her waist and crept to the closest bedroom door.

Katniss twisted the handle with as much finesse as she could harness in that moment, and it opened soundlessly to reveal Peeta, his bare back before her as he kneeled over the foot of the king-size bed. The jeans she had been daydreaming about earlier were tugged below the curve of his ass, which was more perfect than anything her imagination ever conjured. He panted in rhythm with his jerking arm, and she watched in fascination as his muscles flexed with the motion.

No force in the world could stop her from walking to him that moment, and she placed a sweet kiss between his shoulder blades as she wrapped her arms around his waist. He froze in surprise before her hand covered his, and then, as she took over, he could only cry out in ecstasy.

“Oh, fuck, Katniss. Ohhh.”

She sighed against his sweat-slicked skin. He felt so large in her hand, and rock hard, and she didn’t know how she was able to resist for this long. So she pumped him slowly as his entire body shook in restraint, but they were both determined to draw this out for as long as possible.

Her free hand slid up his chest, navigating the hard planes before resting over his pectoral muscle. He placed his hand over hers, entwining their fingers as he hunched forward.

Peeta came without a warning, and it coated her hand and the bed spread beneath them. After he caught his breath, he turned to face her, and she silenced his apology with a kiss. Each ignored the mess as he lowered her to the bed, and she fumbled to untie the sash as he hovered above her and peppered her face and lips with fervent kisses.

“Oh god, look at you,” he groaned as he opened her robe.

“Get hard for me again, okay?” she begged, pulling him down to her. He nodded as she pressed her mouth to his, and then they began the slow exploration of each other’s bodies.

He was fascinated with her breasts, not caring a bit that they were small and unremarkable. Her back arched in response to his mouth closing over one, and she yanked at his hair, pulling harder than she meant to but loving his moaned response.

“Are you ready yet?” she panted against the top of his head.

He sucked harder on her nipple, and she cried out as her nails scratched at his back. “Almost,” he promised a second later, and she wiped at his wet mouth with her thumb, tenderly caressing him until his eyes closed in bliss.

“I’ve never done this before, Katniss,” he admitted in a hushed whisper.

She pushed a lock of hair off his forehead and then reached up to kiss him there. “That’s okay.”

“I really want it to be good for you but I don’t know what I’m doing and-”

She kissed him again, and he looked dazed long after she pulled back. “Do that again,” he commanded quietly, and they shared a smile as she pressed her mouth to his one more time.

“Keep doing that,” he said, licking the corner of his lips before he leaned down to kiss her. “Don’t ever stop doing that.”

She opened herself to him, her mouth and her legs, and she could feel him hard against her thigh as his tongue met hers. He probably wasn’t even aware of the way he was rubbing against her, but she worried he wouldn’t be able to hold back if he kept it up.

It pained her to push him away, and a look of hurt and confusion flashed on his face in the split second before she straddled him.

“I’ll show you what to do, alright?” He nodded eagerly, and she pinned him down with his arms above his head, her breasts brushing against his bare chest as her eyes locked with his. “But we have to be really careful, Peeta, okay? You have to tell me before you finish.”

“I will,” he vowed. She wondered if he would be able to keep that promise, because he seemed to be losing control already, and she had only positioned herself against him.

“You’re so fucking wet, oh my god.”

He gripped her hips tightly as she sunk down on him, and then she rocked her hips forward, moaning softly as he moved deeper inside of her. His hold on her was almost painful now, but she couldn’t scold him when everything else felt so incredible.

“Does it feel good?” he asked hopefully, his jaw clenched hard as she writhed above him.

“It feels amazing,” she sighed, her palms pressed against his chest as she started to move faster.

“Show me,” he reminded her. “I want to make you come.”

She took his hand in hers and moved it to where they were joined. “Touch me here.” His thumb fumbled for a moment, so she guided him again, pressing it directly against her clit.

“Like that,” she said. “Back and forth, just a little harder.”

He sat up to watch his fingers at work, and she clutched onto his shoulders as he focused on how he was touching her. Time would teach him all he needed to know about her body, but right now all it took to make her lose control was the feel of his hard cock inside of her and that determined look on his face as he tried to bring her pleasure.

“Peeta,” she cried out, thrusting against his hand. “Oh god, almost. Keep doing that.”

He watched in amazement as she came, her face contorting in ecstasy as her body shuddered against his.

“Katniss,” he warned, pulling out of her just in time. He cried out as she took him in her hand again, pumping in slow strokes as he spilled onto his stomach and all over her fist. She was still panting from her own orgasm when he fell back against the pillows, but she wasn’t done with him yet.

“Mmm, Peeta,” she purred, sliding down his body to kiss his smooth skin. She licked around his navel, lapping up each drop and savoring the way he tasted. His hands were deep in her still damp hair, and she wanted him to look at her like this for the rest of their lives.

He smiled at her tiredly, and his voice was hoarse when he was finally able to speak again. “I want to stay here forever.” 

“Okay,” she said.

“You can hunt in the forest, and I’ll cook everything you catch. And we’ll stay in bed until noon, everyday.”

“That sounds perfect.”

“It is perfect,” he sighed, holding her tighter. “But it’ll be perfect wherever we are, as long as I’m with you.”

“I like it fine just here. Who needs Asheville?” she asked with a teasing smile.

He rolled them over so she was underneath him, and she laughed as he nuzzled his nose against her cheek. “I definitely don’t.”

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for Prompts in Panem- Day 3
> 
> Many thanks to didntheramble and misshoneywell for prereading.


End file.
